Google adverts hit by crunch

But UK companies still investing online

Less people than expected clicked on Google’s adverts in the first two months of 2008 sparking fears that the credit crunch has hit the internet, despite UK companies being on target to fork out £5 billion on online adverts by 2012.

Although ComScore pointed out that the number of people clicking on the four-line text ads run by every Google search rose by three per cent compared to 2007, it was less of a rise than expected, sparking jitters in the online advertising arena.